The relief of mitral stenosis. An historic step in cardiac surgery

Significant progress has been achieved in cardiac surgery in the last 50 years. Mitral valve surgery (especially for the relief of mitral stenosis) has paralleled the innovations and trends of cardiac surgery and often has served as the benchmark of the latest procedures and techniques. A chronological survey of mitral valve surgery is presented, with emphasis on parallels to cardiac surgery in general and with highlights of key figures and events that have conclusively altered the surgeon's approach to and success with cardiac dysfunction. A few surgeons promulgated the idea of cardiac surgery in the late 19th century, but mitral valve surgeries were not performed in earnest until Souttar's and Cutler's initial attempts in the 1920s and were not successful on large groups of patients until Bailey and Harken made independent breakthroughs in the 1940s, finally laying to rest the idea of the "inviolable heart." Cardiopulmonary bypass provided cardiac surgeons with the time to implant mechanical and bioprosthetic valves for palliative benefit to patients. The "perfect" valve has yet to be found, but the Starr-Edwards mechanical valve since its inception in 1961 has been one of the most successful and widely used prosthetic valves. Gradual improvement in surgical technique and growing knowledge of valve function enabled the re-emergence of mitral valve repair in the 1980s as the preferred surgical method of treating mitral stenosis. In the last 10 years, mitral valve balloon dilation has provided a nonsurgical technique for relief of stenosis and represents the broader trend towards interventional techniques.